Device for feeding blanks



(No Model.)

0. O. FREEMAN. DEVICE FOR FEEDING BLANKS; am.

No. 589,385. Patented Aug. 31,1897.

W/T/VESSES:

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l/VVE/VTOI? M 'Arromviy UNITED STATES CHARLES C. FREEMAN,

PATENT GEETCE.

OF DIXFIELD, MAINE.

DEVICE FOR FEEDING BLANKS, 800.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 589,385, dated August 31, 1897.

Application filed October 26, 1891.

To all; whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, CHARLES C. FREEMAN, of Dixfield, in the county of Oxford and State of Maine, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Devices for Feeding Blanks to Machines for the Manufacture of WVooden Articles,such as Toothpicks,ofwhich the following is a specification.

The object of my invention is to provide a feeding attachment foramachine for polishing toothpicks and by means of which the picks are fed one at a time to the polishing mechanism.

Figure l is a vertical longitudinal central section of my device applied to a machine for compressing and polishing toothpicks, such as is described in Letters Patent to me, No. 358,029, granted February 22, 1887. Fig. 2 is a vertical section of my machine, taken on the dotted line p q; Fig. 3, a rear view, and Fig. l a top view, partly in section, of the same.

a is a roller provided with longitudinal grooves b.

c c are grooves running around the periphery of the roller a; d, a roller having its periphery serrated and placed immediately above the roller Ct. I

e e are grooves running around the cry of roller d. v

ff are fingers, one end of which is attached to the casing "r and having the free end placed in the groove 0.

h h are fingers attached at one end to the frame 1' and having the free end placed in the groove 6. I

k is a spout into which the splints are placed.

Z is an orifice through which the splints pass after they have been fed between the rollers CL and d.

o is a curved shield which extends around the periphery of the roller a a short distance and prevents the splints from leaving the roller until they reach the orifice Z.

m is a pulley for actuating the roller a, and n a pulley for actuating the roller d. Both pulleys turn the same way. The roller a rotates ina semicylindrical bed. The roller Ct is placed in a curved inclosing frame 1), which is provided with a foot or base by means of which it is secured to a horizontal shelf or eX- tension upon the frame 1'. In securing this periph- Serial No. 409,776. (No model.)

frame in place the entire feeding mechanism is attached to the polishing-frame c.

As a result of both pulleys turning the same way the movement of the upper portion of the lower roller ais toward the place where blanks are to be delivered and the lower portion of the upper roller cl away from it, the object being to prevent the blanks from clogging. The serrations on the lower roller d assist, together with this reverse motion of the upper roller d, in keeping the blanks in proper position both in respect to the order in which they are presented for the action of the feed movement and also in respect to the way in which the individual blanks are presentedthat is, sidewise and not endwise.

It will be readily seen that if any blank should ride up on another or be otherwise improperly presented so as not to be properly fed forward the backward motion of the lower part of the upper roller will roll or push it back into a proper position.

The operation of my invention is as follows: The splints are placed in the spout It. From thence they pass onto the roller a, into the grooves 19, by which as the roller turns they are carried forward to the orifice Z. As the roller 61 turns its serrations prevent the splints from getting between the rollers, (as otherwise they might sometimes become wedged in,) while the fingers h prevent the splints from riding up. The fin gers fserve to remove the splints from the groove where they lie when that groove has reached the orifice Z. The splints pass through the orifice Z and dropbetween the surface of the polishing-drum 9c and the wooden lining y, placed inside of the covered frame just below it. This wooden lining consists of a number of separate curved boards, each one of which is provided with a set-screw of its own. These boards can be regulated so as to exert any desired degree of pressure upon the splints while they are being carried through by the revolving drum.

The rubbing motion of both the drum and the curved wooden surface gives the splints a high degree of polish.

\Vhat I claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

An attachment to a machine for polishing splints, consisting of the hopper, a curved inclosing frame, the roller a, provided with longitudinal and circumferential grooves, and which is jonrnaled in the curved. inclosing frame and has a motion toward the place Where the blanks are delivered; the curved shield for preventing the splints from leaving the roller a, until the orifice Z is reached; the fingers f, fastened at one end to the frame, and having their free ends in the circumferential grooves c; the roller (1, placed immediately above the roller a, and-provided with circumferential grooves e, and moving in the same direction as the roller a, and the springfingers 71, attached at one end to the frame of the machine, and having their free ends in the grooves e; the curved inclosin g frame being attached to the frame ofthe polishing mechanism, all combined substantially as shown.

CHARLES O. FREEMAN. W'itnesses:

E. A. SOPER, CHAS. II. DREW. 

